Summary

That’s all for today, thanks for following along. Some links and developments from the day:

  • Barack Obama has called on world leaders to “step up and step up now” to avert climate breakdown, singling out China and Russia for being foremost among countries that are failing to cut planet-heating emissions quickly enough.
  • The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack has issued subpoenas to six of Donald Trump’s associates involved in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election from a “command center” at the Willard Hotel in Washington DC.
  • A man who was shot and wounded by Kyle Rittenhouse during protests against racial injustice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year testified in the 18-year old’s murder trial, telling jurors he thought he “was going to die”.
  • NSO Group’s legal problems have deepened after a US appeals court thoroughly rejected the Israeli spyware company’s claim that it ought to be protected under sovereign immunity laws.
  • A handful of Republican members of Congress have arrived at the UN climate talks in Glasgow in an attempt to portray the party as engaged on the climate crisis, with this message already badly undermined by colleagues back in the US.
  • The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health has called on the US supreme court to uphold the right to abortion in America or risk undermining international human rights law.
  • Biden will travel to Baltimore on Wednesday to deliver a pitch on the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, after the House approved the proposal on Friday night.
  • Ron DeSantis began his campaign to be re-elected Florida governor in 2022, a campaign most observers expect to presage a campaign for the White House in 2024.

The US fully reopened to many vaccinated international travelers today, and the AP captured stories of families and friends reuniting for the first time since Covid closed the US to millions of people. The AP wrote:

Parents held children born while they were stuck abroad. Long-separated couples kissed, and grandparents embraced grandchildren who had doubled in age.

Octavio Alvarez and his 14-year-old daughter zipped through a pedestrian crossing in San Diego in less than 15 minutes on their way to visit his mother-in-law in California.

“It’s a big feeling,” said Alvarez, 43, who lives in Ensenada, Mexico, a two-hour drive from San Diego. Prior to the pandemic, his family would visit California twice a month. The emotional cost of the border restrictions were “very high,” he added.

More photos of reunions here:

The US supreme court heard arguments today in a case that could determine whether the US government faces accountability for its mass surveillance of Muslim Americans after 9/11. As my colleague Ed Pilkington summarized it over the weekend:

The nine justices will be asked to decide on whether Muslim US citizens who were subjected to undercover surveillance by a paid informant at their southern California mosque can receive redress through the courts.

Sheikh Yassir Fazaga, Ali Malik and Yasser Abdel Rahim, the three plaintiffs, argue that they and thousands of other Muslims were targeted because of their religion, and the federal authorities who subjected them to such unconstitutional treatment should answer for that.

Lawyers for the government will counter that the case should be dismissed, as litigating it would reveal intelligence about federal anti-terrorism operations that would be harmful to national security. Information on who they were investigating and why, as well as details of the FBI’s sources and methods, should remain confidential on grounds that they are “state secrets”.

Ahilan Arulanantham, a human rights lawyer at UCLA who will be arguing FBI v Fazaga for the plaintiffs on Monday, told reporters that the question for the court was simple: “Will the people we represent ever get their day in court? Are the courts open to protect this community’s religious freedoms, or can the government slam the doors shut whenever it claims to be acting in the name of national security?”

The LA Times reported today that the Department of Justice lawyer’s argument about national security faced skepticism from conservative and liberal justices.

More background on the ACLU’s arguments here:

The FBI illegally targeted and surveilled Muslims in Southern California.

Then, they tried to shut the courthouse doors on our clients, claiming that we couldn't sue over their religious discrimination because it could reveal state secrets. https://t.co/36qXFGPpfS

— ACLU (@ACLU) November 8, 2021

More than 11,000 employees of Boeing are seeking an exemption to vaccine mandates on religious or medical grounds, representing nearly 9% of its US workforce, according to a new Reuters report, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Biden administration has put in place a vaccine mandate for federal contractors, so the widespread reluctance of Boeing employees has left the company scrambling, Reuters reported. The news agency obtained a Boeing email that said workers had until 4 January to comply with the new rules:

Anyone who has not received their final dose or been approved for an accommodation, and registered their vaccination status by Jan. 4, will be issued a final warning, and will be expected to promptly come into compliance if they wish to remain employed at Boeing.”

More here:

Exclusive: The number of Boeing employees seeking a vaccine exemption on religious or medical grounds has reached more than 11,000, or nearly 9% of its U.S. workforce, people familiar with the matter told Reuters https://t.co/LHrgLFJReE @byEricMJohnson pic.twitter.com/Ni89m3FD6D

— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) November 8, 2021

More updates from the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial: A man who was shot and wounded by Rittenhouse during the racial justice protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year, testified today, saying that he thought he “was going to die”, and, “I thought the defendant was an active shooter.”

From reporter Maya Yang’s coverage for the Guardian:

Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, who had a gun in his hand as he stepped toward Rittenhouse, was wounded in the arm moments after Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, last August.

“I believe in the second amendment,” Grosskreutz said in court on Monday. “I’m for people’s right to carry and bear arms. And that night was no different than any other day. It’s keys, phone, wallet, gun.”

Rittenhouse traveled from his home in Antioch, Illinois, in response to a Kenosha-based militia calling for protection for businesses against protesters supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Then 17, Rittenhouse was armed with an AR-15-style rifle.

Grosskreutz, who trained as a paramedic, testified that he volunteered as a medic at protests in Milwaukee in the days after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck.

President Biden was just asked if he felt there was now momentum for his Build Back Better plan. He told an NBC News reporter he was optimistic:

I just briefly caught up with Pres. Biden on the South Lawn and he responded to a couple of quick questions on his next push for his spending bill agenda. Watch >> pic.twitter.com/MwF7qRtvC0

— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) November 8, 2021

I’m always optimistic. It’s going to be a tough fight ... It ain’t over yet ... I think people are beginning to realize it’s important to get it done...”

Asked if he had learned any lessons from the infrastructure bill, he said, “Nothing I didn’t already know.”

Our coverage from over the weekend:

Hi all - Sam Levin in Los Angeles here, taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day.

A North Dakota GOP representative who organized a rally to oppose Covid vaccine mandates has said he was no longer able to attend the event after becoming infected with Covid. The AP reports:

The state representative, Jeff Hoverson, posted on Facebook on Sunday that he was “quarantining and each day is getting better”.

The Minot lawmaker said he was taking the deworming drug ivermectin as a Covid-19 treatment and had not checked into a hospital. Ivermectin is designed to fight parasitic infections but conservative commentators have promoted it as a treatment for Covid-19, despite a lack of evidence that it helps.

“It’s making me better,” Hoverson said.

Groups opposed to vaccine mandates also staged a protest in Los Angeles today as the city’s new vaccine requirements went into effect. Some municipal employees have claimed that they will quit instead of getting vaccinated, but it remains to be seen whether there will be mass resignations.

Here is the full North Dakota story:

Updated

Today so far

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Sam Levin, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection subpoenaed six more associates of former president Donald Trump. The six associates include Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. The committee seems particularly interested in meetings that Trump’s allies held at the Willard Hotel in Washington in the days leading up to the Capitol attack.
  • Jill Biden kicked off her campaign to convince more American parents to vaccinate their children against coronavirus. The first lady’s kickoff event, which took place this afternoon at an elementary school in McLean, Virginia, comes less than a week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the administration of a lower dose of the Pfizer vaccine to children between the ages of five and 11.
  • Biden will travel to Baltimore on Wednesday to deliver a pitch on the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, after the House approved the proposal on Friday night. The president has not yet signed the bill, which includes $555bn in new federal funding for roads, bridges and railways, among many other projects.
  • Barack Obama criticized Trump’s climate policies while speaking at the Cop26 conference in Glasgow. The former president lamented his successor’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, saying, “I wasn’t real happy about that.” But Obama predicted that Biden’s climate agenda will “set the United States on course to meet its new climate targets”.

Sam will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

In his statement on the new subpoenas, select committee chairman Bennie Thompson emphasized that the witnesses must respect the lawmakers’ requests for information.

“The Select Committee expects all witnesses to cooperate with our investigation as we work to get answers for the American people, recommend changes to our laws that will strengthen our democracy, and help ensure nothing like January 6th ever happens again,” Thompson said.

The House has already recommended a criminal contempt charge against one of Donald Trump’s associates, Steve Bannon, for refusing to comply with the committee’s subpoenas. (The justice department has not yet decided whether to prosecute Bannon.)

The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is particularly interested in meetings that Donald Trump’s allies had at the Willard Hotel in the days leading up to the attack.

Hugo Lowell reports:

The subpoenas seeking documents and testimony are aimed at obtaining the legal advice offered to Trump on how he could manipulate events on 6 January to stop certification of [Joe] Biden’s election win, [one] source said.

House investigators are moving to pursue Trump lieutenants who gathered at the Willard to uncover the ‘centers of gravity’ from which Trump and his advisers conspired, the source said – and whether the former president had advance knowledge of the Capitol attack.

The select committee appears to be seeking a full account of what transpired in several suites at the Willard in the days leading up to 6 January and during a final ‘war room’ meeting the night before the Capitol attack.

According to the new statement from the select committee, at least three of the Trump associates who were subpoenaed by the panel -- Jason Miller, John Eastman and Bernard Kerik -- are believed to have participated in that January 5 meeting at the Willard.

Here are all six of the associates of former president Donald Trump who have just been subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection:

  • Bill Stepien, who managed Trump’s reelection campaign. The committee is looking to ask him about the campaign’s alleged efforts to delay or deny certifications of Joe Biden’s victories in battleground states.
  • Jason Miller, a former senior adviser to Trump. The committee notes Miller falsely claimed Democrats would attempt to “steal” the presidency even before the election was held.
  • Angela McCallum, who served as a national executive assistant to Trump’s reelection campaign. She was allegedly involved in efforts to spread lies about widespread fraud in the election.
  • John Eastman, a conservative legal scholar who reportedly urged state legislators to refuse to certify Biden’s victories.
  • Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser. Flynn reportedly participated in a meeting in the Oval Office last December, during which he discussed potentially seizing voting machines and declaring a national emergency in response to Biden’s victory.
  • Bernard Kerik, who reportedly worked with Rudy Giuliani to investigate baseless allegations of voter fraud.

Capitol attack committee subpoenas six more Trump associates

The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas for six more associates of former president Donald Trump.

Among those being subpoenaed are Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

NEW: The Select Committee has issued subpoenas to six of the former President's allies and advisors tied to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including:

▪️William Stepien
▪️Jason Miller
▪️Angela McCallum
▪️John Eastman
▪️Michael Flynn
▪️Bernard Kerik

— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) November 8, 2021

According to a statement from the committee, the six individuals are all believed to have been involved in efforts to spread lies about widespread fraud in the presidential election.

“In the days before the January 6th attack, the former President’s closest allies and advisors drove a campaign of misinformation about the election and planned ways to stop the count of Electoral College votes,” committee chairman Bennie Thompson said.

“The Select Committee needs to know every detail about their efforts to overturn the election, including who they were talking to in the White House and in Congress, what connections they had with rallies that escalated into a riot, and who paid for it all.”

Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks have arrived at the White House to celebrate their victory in the 2021 NBA championships.

The team shared a photo from the White House on Twitter:

Welcome to the @WhiteHouse!! pic.twitter.com/9EdiDb1rE0

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 8, 2021

Joe Biden will soon hold an event on the South Lawn to congratulate the team on their victory, so stay tuned.

The principal of Franklin Sherman Elementary School, Kathleen Quigley, welcomed Jill Biden and Vivek Murthy to the pop-up vaccination clinic for students.

When asked for her message to parents who are hesitant to vaccinate their children, the first lady said she would tell them that the vaccines are “great, effective and free”.

According to a pool report, about 260 children will be vaccinated at Franklin Sherman today. The majority of those children attend the elementary school.

Jill Biden holds event promoting coronavirus vaccines for children

Jill Biden has arrived at Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, to promote coronavirus vaccinations for children.

The first lady is joined by Dr Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general. The event comes less than a week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the administration of a lower dose of the Pfizer vaccine to children between the ages of five and 11.

Franklin Sherman also has a unique history, as it was the first school to administer the polio vaccine in 1954.

. @FLOTUS and @Surgeon_General arrive at Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Va for the school’s first shot clinic for kids ages 5-11. I’m told 260 kids got their first dose here today pic.twitter.com/CR4CoyOplO

— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) November 8, 2021

The deputy White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, would not provide a specific timeline for when Joe Biden will sign the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

The president previously indicated that he would wait to sign the bill until Democratic lawmakers are back in town. The House and the Senate are both out of session this week.

“It’s urgent, but we also want to make sure that the people who spent the last couple of weeks, last couple of months just all in delivering on this promise are here for the signing as well,” Jean-Pierre said.

Although she would not provide a specific date for the bill-signing, Jean-Pierre said it would happen “very soon”.

After taking over the briefing room podium, deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about Republican resistance to the Biden administration’s new policies requiring coronavirus vaccines in many workplaces.

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked one of the rules, which requires workers at companies with 100 or more employees to get vaccinated or receive regular coronavirus testing.

“Defending a policy is not a new thing from an administration,” Jean-Pierre said of the court ruling. “This is something that happens all the time.”

Jean-Pierre argued there was clear precedent for the federal government to keep workers safe by setting certain standards for employers.

“The administration clearly has the authority to protect workers, and actions announced by the president are designed to save lives and stop the spread of Covid-19,” Jean-Pierre said.

Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said the bipartisan infrastructure bill will also provide funding to strengthen America’s supply chain networks.

The House passage of the bill comes as the country has experienced product shortages as a result of supply-chain issues caused by the pandemic.

Buttigieg added that the most effective strategy to address supply-chain issues is to boost vaccination rates to limit the spread of coronavirus and keep workplaces open.

“The best way to end a pandemic-related shortage is to end the pandemic,” Buttigieg said.

Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg confirmed that Joe Biden has not yet signed the bipartisan infrastructure bill, although the House passed the proposal on Friday night.

Buttigieg would not specify when Biden might sign the legislation, but he said he will “be there with bells on” when the bill-signing occurs.

The cabinet secretary also echoed the president’s claim that Americans will be able to see the effects of the infrastructure bill within a couple of months.

Buttigieg acknowledged it will take longer to establish the new programs included in the bill, but he said existing programs that are receiving additional funding from the legislation should be able to move forward more quickly.

He also noted that the department of transportation will have to take on additional staff to handle the distribution of funds from the infrastructure bill.

The deputy White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, is now holding the daily briefing, and she is joined by transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The cabinet secretary touted the House passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which includes $555bn in new federal funding for roads, bridges and other projects.

Buttigieg noted the bill would provide funding to replace out-of-date water pipes, improve railway systems and invest in public transit.

“We are excited with an exclamation point,” Buttigieg said of the bill.

DeSantis kicks off run for Florida re-election

Ron DeSantis has begun his campaign to be re-elected Florida governor in 2022, a campaign most observers expect to presage a campaign for the White House in 2024.

At a press conference this morning, the Republican said paperwork filed regarding next year’s gubernatorial contest was simply a formality. Most polling makes DeSantis a strong contender for the Republican presidential nomination – if you remove Donald Trump from the equation, of course.

On Monday DeSantis, who has chaneled Trump and Trumpism very effectively since winning election in Florida in 2018, also previewed a key campaign theme – or, well, repeated a key theme of his everyday approach to political battle – by taking a shot at a Biden administration rule that says businesses with 100 or more employees must demand from those employees either vaccination against Covid-19 or weekly testing.

“No cop, no firefighter, no nurse, nobody should be losing their jobs because of these jabs,” DeSantis told reporters. “We have got to stand up for people and protect their jobs and protect their livelihoods.”

For the moment no cop, firefighter, nurse or anyone else will be losing their jobs because of the Biden rule, which was temporarily stayed by a conservative judge in New Orleans on Saturday. The administration says it is confident it will prevail.

Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried are among Democrats who would like to challenge DeSantis for governor in Florida.

Fried, the highest-placed Democrat in the state, as agriculture commissioner, has often clashed with DeSantis publicly, notably over posthumous honours for the conservative shock jock Rush Limbaugh.

Crist was a Republican when he was governor in the 2000s – he’s now a Democratic member of the US House.

No Democrat has won a gubernatorial election in Florida since 1994.

UN health official: US abortion attacks risk undermining international law

The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health has called on the US supreme court to uphold the right to abortion in America or risk undermining international human rights law and threatening that right elsewhere in the world.

The special rapporteur, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, is one of just a handful of global observers whose mandate is to travel the world defending human rights.

Mofokeng has argued in a brief filed in a US court that overturning abortion rights would violate international human rights treaties ratified by the US, including the convention against torture, should women be forced to carry pregnancies to term.

Donald Trump once described Mitch McConnell as his “ace in the hole” and wrote, in a foreword to the Senate Republican leader’s autobiography, that he “couldn’t have asked for a better partner” in Washington.

Except, according to Trump, he didn’t.

Speaking to the Washington Post for a profile of the Senate minority leader published on Monday, Trump said he told McConnell: “‘Why don’t you write it for me and I’ll put it in, Mitch?’ Because that’s the way life works.”

McConnell did not dispute Trump’s account, about the book The Long Game, telling the paper: “I really don’t have anything to add related to him.”

The Post profile lands at a tricky time for Republican leaders. Last week’s stunning victory in the election for governor in Virginia was achieved by a candidate who kept Trump at arm’s length while deploying many of his tactics. But the former president remains a dominant presence, seemingly likely to run for the White House again.

He and McConnell, the two most powerful men in the GOP, are firmly at odds over Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen and over control of a party McConnell steers in the 50-50 Senate, which Democrats control via Vice-President Kamala Harris.

McConnell’s support for the bipartisan infrastructure deal which the House sent to Joe Biden’s desk on Friday only deepened the divide. In a statement on Sunday, Trump said “all Republicans who voted for Democrat longevity should be ashamed of themselves in particular, Mitch McConnell”.

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Jill Biden will kick off her campaign to convince more American parents to vaccinate their children against coronavirus. The first lady’s kickoff event, which will take place this afternoon in McLean, Virginia, comes less than a week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the administration of a lower dose of the Pfizer vaccine to children between the ages of five and 11.
  • Biden will travel to Baltimore on Wednesday to deliver a pitch on the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, after the House approved the proposal on Friday night. The president has not yet signed the bill, which includes $555bn in new federal funding for roads, bridges and railways, among many other projects.
  • Barack Obama criticized Donald Trump’s climate policies while speaking at the Cop26 conference in Glasgow. The former president lamented his successor’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, saying, “I wasn’t real happy about that.” But Obama predicted that Biden’s climate agenda will “set the United States on course to meet its new climate targets”.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

At least one high-profile Democrat, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, has already indicated that she opposes the potential renomination of Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell.

“Your record gives me grave concerns,” the progressive lawmaker told Powell at a Senate hearing last month.

“Over and over, you have acted to make our banking system less safe, and that makes you a dangerous man to head up the Fed, and it’s why I will oppose your renomination.”

Fed governor Quarles announces resignation

Federal Reserve governor Randal Quarles has announced he will resign next month, giving Joe Biden another opening to fill at the US central bank.

“After more than four years as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and given the completion last month of my term as Vice
Chairman for Supervision of the Board, I intend to resign my position as a Governor of
the Federal Reserve during or around the last week of December of this year,” Quarles said in a letter to Biden.

“It has been a great privilege to work with my colleagues on the Board, throughout the Federal Reserve System, and among the global central banking and regulatory community.”

Quarles’ announcement comes as Biden also has to make a decision on whether to nominate Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell for another term.

Bloomberg News reports:

Also, Vice Chair Richard Clarida’s term as a governor expires at the end of January, and there is an open seat on the board. Together, these appointments give Biden an opportunity to reshape the Fed Board.

Biden recently met with Chair Powell and Fed Governor Lael Brainard, according to people familiar with the matter. Brainard is the only sitting governor on the Board appointed by a Democrat who is seen as a contender for all three leadership positions.

After the House passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Democrats’ attention has turned to the $1.75tn reconciliation package, which includes more than $500bn for climate initiatives.

A handful of House progressives voted against the infrastructure bill because of their demand that the reconciliation package advance at the same time.

Progressives worried that some of their centrist colleagues, like Senator Joe Manchin, would not feel motivated to pass the reconciliation package once the infrastructure bill was sent to Joe Biden’s desk.

Asked about concerns that Democrats may lose momentum in the negotiations over the reconciliation bill, Biden said on Saturday, “I feel confident that we will have enough votes to pass the Build Back Better plan.”

Obama criticizes Trump in Cop26 remarks

Barack Obama addressed the Cop26 climate change conference today, opening with a cheery “Hello, Glasgow!”

The former US president, tieless and looking relaxed, said that he doesn’t need to attend such conferences anymore, but “you will have a hard time keeping me away” when it comes to the future of the planet.

Obama said “meaningful progress” has been made since the Paris climate accords, which he helped to strike, but he acknowledged that more needs to be done.

“What is also true, collectively and individually we are still falling short,” he said. “We have not done nearly enough to address this crisis, we will need to do more.”

Obama admitted that “some progress stalled” when Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Paris deal. “I wasn’t real happy about that,” he added, but said the “US is back” under Joe Biden’s leadership.

He also argued that, despite opposition within the Democratic party, some version of Biden’s ambitious $555bn climate package will pass in Congress in the coming weeks. “It will set the United States on course to meet its new climate targets,” he said.

Follow the Guardian’s live blog for more updates from Cop26:

Joe Biden has now arrived back at the White House, after he and the first lady spent some time at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, this weekend.

As the president approached the White House, reporters shouted questions at him about his economic agenda and the results of last week’s elections.

When asked about whether he would soon speak to Glenn Youngkin, the Republican governor-elect of Virginia, it sounded like the president replied, “I tried to call him.”

The White House deputy press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said on Thursday that the president had not yet spoken with Youngkin.

“The will of the people is clear, and the president has always believed in working across party lines for the good of the American families,” Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing. “And he looks forward to doing that with Governor-elect Youngkin.”

The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly and David Smith report:

In his Saturday remarks, Joe Biden praised the infrastructure bill as a “once-in-a-generation investment that’s going to create millions of jobs, modernise our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our broadband, a range of things turning the climate crisis into an opportunity, and a put us on a path to win the economic competition of the 21st century that we face with China and other large countries in the rest of the world”.

The House approved the $1tn bill late on Friday, after Democrats resolved a months-long standoff between progressives and centrists. The measure passed 228-206. Thirteen Republicans, mostly moderates, supported the bill while six progressive Democrats opposed it, among them Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Approval sent the bill to the desk of a president whose approval ratings have dropped and whose party struggled in elections this week.

Biden said he would not sign the bill over the weekend because he wanted those who passed it to be there when he did so.

“We’re looking more forward to having shovels in the ground,” Biden said. “To begin rebuilding America.”

Biden to travel to Baltimore to sell infrastructure bill

Joe Biden will travel to Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday to deliver a pitch for the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed the House on Friday.

In Baltimore, the president will “discuss how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal delivers for the American people by upgrading our nation’s ports and strengthening supply chains to prevent disruptions,” per the White House’s guidance on the trip.

The House was able to pass the bill on Friday night, after speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to delay another planned vote on the larger spending package championed by Democrats.

The infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August, provides $555bn in new federal funding for roads, bridges and railways, among many other projects.

Celebrating the House’s passage of the bill, Biden said on Saturday, “This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America. And it’s long overdue.”

As Jill Biden launches her campaign to encourage American parents to vaccinate their children against coronavirus, the White House is taking additional steps to boost vaccination rates among kids.

The AP reports:

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona are sending a letter to school districts across the country calling on them to organize vaccine clinics for their newly eligible students. The officials are reminding school districts that they can tap into billions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief money to support pediatric vaccination efforts.

The Biden administration is providing local school districts with tools to help schools partner with pharmacies to administer shots. And it’s asking schools to share information on the benefits of vaccines and details about the vaccination process with parents, in an effort to combat disinformation surrounding the shots.

The White House is encouraging schools to host community conversations and share fact sheets on the vaccines and is working with the American Academy of Pediatrics to partner local physicians with schools aiming to share science-based information about the shots.

Many US schools have been affected by coronavirus-related closures this year, and there are high hopes that the approval of a vaccine for all school-aged children could help keep classrooms open moving forward.

Eric Berger reports on the Biden administration’s efforts to enact vaccine requirements in workplaces:

Biden administration plans to get US companies with more than 100 or more workers to vaccinate their staff or bring in regular tests have been welcomed by public health groups but slammed by Republicans and trade groups, who claim government overreach with negative economic consequences.

Such divided reaction to the rules announced last week mirrors much of America’s problematic vaccine rollout, where social and political headwinds have seen vaccination take-up slow down worryingly.

US vaccination rates are some of the lowest in industrialized countries where the vaccine is readily available.

Subject at least to a temporary stay issued by a circuit court in New Orleans on Saturday, the new rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) will take effect on 4 January.

But the rules sparked new backlash from Republican lawmakers and conservative groups who described the measures as unconstitutional. Republican governors or attorneys general in 15 states plan to file lawsuits against the mandate, according to the Associated Press.
“This rule is garbage,” South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, a Republican, said, according to the AP. “It’s unconstitutional and we will fight it.”

Jill Biden to kick off campaign to boost child vaccination rates

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

First lady Jill Biden will kick off a campaign this afternoon to convince more American parents to vaccinate their children against coronavirus.

Biden and Dr Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, will visit a vaccination clinic at Franklin Sherman elementary school in McLean, Virginia, which was the first school to administer the polio vaccine in 1954.

The event comes less than a week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the administration of a lower dose of the Pfizer vaccine to children between the ages of five and 11.

The Biden administration is now coordinating with schools, pharmacies and local health departments to ensure families have access to vaccines and (perhaps more crucially) give parents information about why kids should get their shots.

The first lady, who is an educator herself, will have the opportunity to deliver that message in person today.

Stay tuned.

Contributors

Sam Levin (now) and Joan E Greve (earlier)

The GuardianTramp

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Debate cancelled as Trump plans first in-person events since Covid diagnosis - as it happened
Trump, who will host a rally in Florida on Monday, has insisted on having an in-person debate

Kari Paul, Lauren Aratani and Martin Belam

10, Oct, 2020 @1:31 AM

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Biden warns 'more people may die' if Trump refuses to cooperate on transition – as it happened
Biden urges Trump team to work with him on Covid planning, while key national security adviser appears to accept Trump lost election – get the latest

Maanvi Singh (now) and Daniel Strauss (earlier)

17, Nov, 2020 @1:01 AM

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House will vote Wednesday morning on $1.9tn Covid relief bill – as it happened
Majority leader Steny Hoyer confirms House will take up bill on 9am ET Wednesday, with bill expected to pass – follow all the latest

Maanvi Singh (now), Joan E Greve and Martin Belam (earlier)

10, Mar, 2021 @2:21 AM

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‘Despicable’: Cheney slams McCarthy after he pulls Republicans from Capitol attack committee – as it happened
The Republican congresswoman spoke after Kevin McCarthy removed all GOP members he had appointed to the panel – follow all the latest news

Maanvi Singh and Vivian Ho

22, Jul, 2021 @12:05 AM